What is the writer saying? The general essence of the article is that the old ways of work and the work ethic of the older generations have broken apart. In place of stable routine and predictable career paths, employees are now expected to be fluid in their jobs, and open to change on very short notice. Workers of today's generation can no longer expect long term work, or the trust and loyalty that were given to the employees of the older generation. In some ways, the writer argues that this change between the generations is positive, as they can make for a more dynamic economy. However, they are also the cause of the article's title, "The Corrosion of Character". The work ethics of the employees are no longer valued. They are taken as face value, and there is no trust and loyalty. These changes are destructive to the worker's sense of sustained purpose, integrity of self and the trust they hold in others within the workplace. What are some of the main themes he is addressing? The main themes addressed in this article are the generational changes within the workforce, the advancements in the economy that are affecting the workplaces and the changes in the work ethic of employees. What is his basis for saying this? Sennett once interviewed a man named Enrico, a janitor, whilst writing a book. Twenty five years later, a chance encounter with Enrico's son, Rico at an airport led him to write The Corrosion of Character'. Rico had been able to make a good life for himself as a wealthy professional. Sennett talks about the generational changes within the workforce because of the importance of acknowledging the severe impacts it has had on the lives of some people. Whilst many have been able to adapt to the changes that the evolving economy has placed upon organisations, it is important to address what it is doing to people and their sense of identity within the workplace. What is he using as evidence? Sennett's comparisons between the lives of the father and the son illustrate the huge generational changes within the workplace. Jobs in Rico's time are no longer long term, making job security a thing of the past. While he earns a great deal more money than his father did, he faces an unpredictable future, as he doesn't know where his employment will take him, or for how long it will last.
These three generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y all bring their own share of values, beliefs, thoughts and opinions, perspective and experiences to the workplace. The dynamics of the workplace is directly affected by the differences among these three generations. Today’s current managers need to understand how to efficiently manage and lead a multigenerational workforce in order to increase productivity and meet organization goals and objectives. Recently, there has been changes in the general management. From 2008 to 2013, there was some serious shift in Gen X and Gen Y moving into managerial roles. According to Matthew Golden from Biz Journals, the most prominent change was 87% of Gen Y moved into more managerial roles compared to
A current recession is forcing people to have to deal with low wages and a horrendous lack of flexibility, in regards to hours. In fear of unemployment, today’s work choose to bear with these conditions instead of demanding for better treatment. In “Why Your Office Needs More Bratty Millennials,” Emily Matchar, the author, claims that the workforce would benefit from adding millennials, those born from 1983-1999, because their aggressive demanding tactics would cause companies to eventually have to adapt. These companies would have to adapt because by 2025, 75 percent of the workforce will be millennials. All of the external sources and numbers, provided by Matchar, don’t back up her claim, resulting in a weak
SUBJECT: An analysis of two articles about the impact of multiple generations on the workplace
We are experiencing in our work force a changing of the guard, currently there are three generational groups that make up our workforce: The Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials, who for the past few years have begun to work together. However, what we are discovering is that because of the time frame of their births and the life altering affects during those times, it has influenced the values and objectives of each of these groups, ultimately affecting their ethics and values, in the work place. We will continue to discover the differences in each of these generations, their outlooks, and the steps that business leaders are taking to evolve their training programs and procedures to accommodate these changes and maintain or increase the ethical standards of their companies. Many business leaders are striving to ensure that a generational divide does not lead to miscommunication, hindered performance, and most importantly, put their company at risk.
Upon entering the workforce, this generation worked for organizations that had “clear lines of authority, strict assignment of responsibilities, rank based on seniority, and an implied work contract; they expected to work for the same company until retirement and valued job security and stability” (Fore, 2013). However, because this generation was often absorbed with the past, “technology represented an unpleasant change that required training and adjustment, as it affected both their work and personal lives” (Fore, 2013).
With the current change in demographics throughout the workforce, organizations are feeling the effects of a larger percentage of baby boomers retiring and a large percentage of millennial new entrants. The words used to describe millennial employees, “spoiled, trophy kids, ambitious”, seem to be as everlasting as the constructive and negative perspectives attached to them. Many can debate on the entitlement of these employees within an organization, how these employees can be groomed and managed to better fit the organization, the positive and negative attributes they bring into the workplace, and how the preceding can benefit or derail the effectiveness of an organization. Nonetheless, a harder debate, comes about in denying that organizations must adjust to and integrate these employees into the workforce.
Smola, Karen Wey, and Charlotte D. Sutton. "Generational Difference: Revisiting Generational Work Values for the New Millennium." Journal of Organizational Behavior 23 (2002): 363-82. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. .
Microgeneration’s are already rising and horrifying the group right before them, an example needs to be set to show them that it is possible to work through the generational differences (Stein). People have power in numbers and currently the separation between age and features of generations are preventing them from being one workforce, working together to achieve a common goal—the wellbeing of an entire society. All groups can make an effort to close the gap by being more accepting and open minded to change. As Millennials run into setbacks in their advanced methods, previous generations can help and explain the foundational way of operation. While previous generations fall behind in technological advancements, Millennials can share their expertise on technology. Every generation has its flaws and together the holes can be filled, simply with a little optimism and collaborative work. The key to closing this gap is education – knowledge of the past and present. Programs such like Pollak’s initiative to work with companies and help train directors how to manage and market to the Millennial generation of young adults will contribute to a better understanding on how to handle workplace confrontations (qtd. in Dowdy). Lastly, Millennials too have some contributions they can make to close the gap. As understanding as they are, they
The current state of the workforce is that millennials are now entering the workplace in record numbers. This creates a dilemma because the Baby Boomers are not necessarily retiring at the given time. The baby Boomers is not concerned with retirement at age 65. In fact, age 85 is the new 65. The result is that 60-year-olds are working alongside 20-yearolds and because the difference in their formative experiences, this have led to generational misconceptions and have help to create tension and hostility within the workforce.
Now that The millennial generation has entered the working world, there are many things being discussed, such as their performance on the job. In the article “Note to Gen Y Workers: Performance on the Job Actually Matters”, the Buckingham’s claim that
The focus of this paper is to elaborate on the changing landscape of work in America during the twenty-first century. According to the researchers, as the economy continues to slowly recover from the recession and economic crisis, more of our baby boomers are reentering the workforce. In addition to the introduction of automation and computer technologies into the workplace, this has dramatically changed the nature of jobs for the older workers (Czaja and Sharit 2009). As stated in the Government Accountability Office in 2006, the number of workers over age 55 is projected to increase significantly over the next 20 years. Evidence shows that ageism, stereotypes, and misinformation about our older population continue to be major issues across
The article I found for this assignment is Workplace Engagement and Generational Differences in Values by Nancy M. Schullery it was published in Business Communication Quarterly. The Article focuses on the difference in work place engagement and communication at the generational level and how similar it is to interaction inside the classroom. The article provided a survey of the literature on workplace engagement, and detailed how the values of the newest generation in the workforce, the Millennials, are different from previous generations. "These value differences may diminish the effectiveness of employers’ efforts to increase engagement, similar to the way differing values also may reduce our own effectiveness in the classroom"(Schullery,
Currently there are 3 major generations in the workforce, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. The two biggest clash is seen between the largest generation gap, Boomers and Generation Y. The two generations have contradictory work preferences. “Boomers obsession with work vs Generation Y's flexibility, Baby Boomers preference for autonomy and Generation Y's for collaboration and working in teams, Baby Boomers respect for workplace hierarchy against Generation Y's preparedness to challenge management and so on” (Helyer & Lee, 2013). “Some generational differences can be addressed through effective human resource management. For example, organizations train managers to provide frequent feedback to members of Generation Y, and they show respect for older generations’ hard work and respect for authority by asking them to mentor younger workers” (Raymond, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2014).
Sennett is trying to show the world that the new economy and new work is corroding the work ethic of the new generation. He believes that the new economy is causing the traditional way of progressing through a career to wither away; which is opposite from the old economy (Sennett 195). Sennett uses his conversations with Enrico and Rico in the airport the fe...
In Today’s world, the composition and how work is done has massively changed and is still continuing to change. Work is now more complex, more team base, depends greatly on technological and social skills and lastly more mobile and does not depend on geography. Companies are also opting for ways to help their employees perform their duties effectively so that huge profits are realized in the long term .The changes in the workplaces include Reduction in the structure of the hierarchy ,breakdown in the organization boundaries , improved and better management tactics and perspectives and lastly better workplace condition and health to the employees. (Frank Ackerman, Neva R. Goodwin, Laurie Dougherty, Kevin Gallagher, 2001)